By MLF Communications Staff
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – The 2024 Toyota Series Championship is set to take place at Wheeler Lake this week, with competition running Thursday through Saturday. The country's best Toyota Series pros and international anglers will compete for a top award of up to $235,000 cash, including the $35,000 Phoenix MLF Bonus, and an invitation to REDCREST 2025.
The three-day, no-entry-fee event is the culmination of the six-division circuit that offers a path to the 2025 Invitationals and ultimately the Bass Pro Tour.
In addition to the lucrative top prize, the signature fall championship offers thousands in awards to top finishers in each division, while introducing international qualifiers to tournament bass-fishing stateside. The long-running championship also provides advancement opportunities for anglers across the globe, furthering their reach and amplifying their fishing platforms.
Bass Pro Tour angler Ryan Salzman of Huntsville, Ala., is a guide on Wheeler Lake and said he expects to see several patterns in play on the fishery.
“There’s definitely going to be a guy or two fishing around the dam that finish in the Top 10,” Salzman said. “I also think we’ll see some guys do really well on topwater, while others make runs up the big creeks. Those in the creeks will do really well throwing topwaters and spinnerbaits, but I also think you’ll have a couple guys do really well LiveScoping.”
From dam to dam, Wheeler Lake is pretty diverse – there’s grass, the famous Decatur Flats with its stumps and shell bars, some major creeks (the Elk River is where Zack Birge of Blanchard, Okla., won the 2014 Rayovac FLW Series Championship ), and of course the current below the Guntersville Dam. Positioned close to Ditto Landing, the dam is perhaps the wildcard of the event. In 2022, Nathan Brewer of Lawrenceburg, Tenn., led the Toyota Series event at Lake Guntersville for two days by locking out of Lake Guntersville and fishing below the dam for smallmouth.
Salzman said the umbrella rig bite can also be pretty good on Wheeler, and for that, he likes the 3.5-inch True Bass Minner to imitate small shad. There’s also the potential for a shallow cranking bite, with something like a Yo-Zuri 3DB Crank 1.5 MR or a topwater bite, similar to what is typically seen on Pickwick and Kentucky Lake, so there could be a lot of variety in play.
Anglers will take off daily at 7 a.m. CT from Ditto Landing, located at 293 Ditto Landing Road. Weigh-ins will also be held at the landing and will begin at 3 p.m. Fans are welcome to attend the daily takeoffs and weigh-ins and also follow the action online through the MLF Live weigh-in broadcasts and daily coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
The MLFNOW! broadcast team of Chad McKee and Rob Newell will break down the extended action live on the final day of competition from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. CT. MLFNOW! is live streamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com, the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app and Rumble.
The full field of anglers will compete on Days 1 and 2 of the event, with the Top 25 pros and Top 25 co-anglers based on cumulative weight from the first two days continuing to the third and final day. The 2024 Toyota Series champions will be determined by the heaviest three-day total weight.
Pros and co-anglers can qualify for multiple contingency awards based on final standings in the championship, including the Phoenix bonus. The winning co-angler will earn a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower outboard motor.
The 2024 Toyota Series consisted of six divisions – Central, Northern, Plains, Southern, Southwestern and Western – each holding three regular-season events, along with the International division and the Wild Card. The highest finishing pro from each division at the championship will claim a $10,000 bonus. The bonus will go to the second-highest finishing pro in the division represented by the overall champion.
